Two beating Hearts in a Dying World
by Caroline Fey
Summary: Clary as always lived in a world where the dead walk. But when her brother's life is taken and her best friend leaves her, she now must survive with a peacekeeper group called the "Shadow Hunters" But when Clary's big secret is revealed, she must go with two boys to the main medical center of the US. She may be the answer to a new life, but will love get in the way of fate?
1. Meet Jace

***Clary***

"It's been this way for as long as I can remember. The outbreak was 15 years ago and I'm only 17 years old. My parents died in the first day. My brother, Jonathan, and my friend, Simon, became my family after that, fortunately, Jon was old enough to take care of us, even though he wasn't older than five -quite impressive really-. We took care of ourselves. We were all great hunters, Si was good at the traps, Jon was a great shot, and I was pretty much anything else; I was medical, -with knowledge picked up from books I found and practice I learned enough- I could hunt well with my bow and arrows (I prefer stealthy tactics) and Jonathan tought my a bit with a firearm. I'm also what you would call the leader of the group. Even though I'm the youngest, I know what I'm doing, people respect me, and quite frankly, I'm a bad ass with a brain.

But that all came crashing down a little while ago.

One day, we were scavenging an abandoned building that we've looked at for a couple of weeks, waiting for what was left of the people who were in it to leave the house to save as some ammo and energy. We watched as the dead walked out of the building, probably a strange site for anyone born before this time, but this is the way it as always been.

Still as quiet as possible, we entered the building and began to search every inch of every room. We had found a lot of food and I got some new throwing knives. I had decided that I was going to spilt off and search a different room of the house. After opening a hallway of doors I realized that this place must have once been a school. I cautiously opened a door on the other end of the house, it led to a room full of bunk beds. I began to search all the beds and anything else next to them. I saw something glint inside of a backpack beside one of the beds, I reached in to find a backpack filled of medical supplies. "Yes!" I whispered in rejoicing. I slung the bag on my shoulder and began to look through other beds when I heard it. A scream. I could recognize whose it was in an instant. I cursed and began to run back towards the room I left my brother and best friend. As I was running down the hallway to the room, I heard a powerful gun shot, like from the barrel of a shotgun. I ran as fast as possible. I opened the door. I only was able to see the back of Simon, he was holding Jonathan's shotgun limply by his side. "Si?" I said quietly, suddenly scared.

Simon whipped around at the sound of my voice, his eyes had been big and tears were straining against them, "_Simon?" _I said with a warning tone in my voice. He stepped directly in front of my, obviously trying to block my view of something in the room. I felt my eyes grow bigger at realization.

"I'm so sorry, Clary," Simon had said, "I tried to save him," he dropped the shotgun to the floor. I pushed him to the side and nearly screamed at the site. Jonathan was lying on the floor, there was a now dead infected, nearly on top of him. Jon had a huge chunk of flesh missing on the side of his neck, torn out by teeth of the dead infected man beside him, It must have been old, the older they get, the most violent they become. Slowly walking up -I remember tears silently pouring down my face- I grabbed the infected man and dragged him to the next room over before taking a long, broken pole I found, and -with all my strength- rammed to into the man's skull. I went back to the room with my dead brother and took the ring from around my neck and put it around his. The Morgenstern ring. Jonathan gave it to me, it was his, given to him by our dad. I shakily stood. Me and Simon began to silently walk out of the building. Sorrow, heavy in the air around us.

In my dazed state. I didn't even here another infected run up, before it was already on top of me. It's blood-stained teeth, snapping at me.

I was ripped from my remembrance of the past when I large crash came from the room next to the one she was in and I remembered Maryse going out a little while ago. I heard Maryse's voice, joined with two other's, more masculine, that I didn't recognize. I grabbed my lucky pocket knife and quietly crept towards the door.

The door swung open and Maryse was thrown to the ground by a unfamiliar man in the door way. He bent down to grab at her again, but I lunged myself at him. Even though he was much taller and possibly older, I took him by surprise and successfully pinned the man against the wall with my pocket knife to his neck. He tall, with blonde hair, obviously strong, and was looking down at her with tawny eyes, wide in surpass. There was a second man next to Maryse, he was older that the man I attacked, he had black hair and bright blue eyes.

"Clarissa stop," Maryse said, still on the ground. I knew that I had to keep my attention on the man I attacked, but something caught my eye.

"Maryse! You're shot!" I yelled down at her, staring at the bleed wound on her abdomen.

The blonde man took his chance at my distraction and pushed out against me. Throwing my to the ground, with him now on top of my and with my knife in his hand, now against my neck.

"Jace!" The second man yelled at the man on top of me, "She is just protecting Maryse,"

"She jumped me!" Jace argued, not moving from his place.

"I mean it. NOW!" The other man yelled at Jace, how slowly got up, still holding the pocket knife. The dark hair man pointed to the knife and gestured for him to give the blade back to me. He gave it tossed it down to me without closing the blade. I caught it by the handle able an inch any from it slicing into my face, and slowly stood back up and walked over to Maryse.

"Come up," I said while hoisting her up in lean against my shoulder, she tried to pull away but I wouldn't let her

"Clary, honestly. I made it this far," I ignored her and helped her up on a cleared off table then when to get some medical supplies.

"So, how about someone explains to me why the hell you two are here and why Maryse is shot while I take care of the problem.

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><p><strong>I hope you like it. THANKS FOR READING!<strong>** I will be updating soon. ****Don't forget to review, telling me how you feel and maybe any ideas you may have. **


	2. Leaving the City

"My name is Alec, this is my little brother Jace. We're part of The Shadow hunters.," Alec said while I patched up Maryse.

"Why are you here?" I asked. "I don't recognize you two,"

"We're being paid to babysit you while we take you across the country," Jace said

_I already can't stand this guy_ "What do you mean, _Babysit me while going across the country._ I'm not going anywhere. And even if I was, I would go alone. I don't need some pain in my ass trying to boss me around,"

"_Clary,"_ Maryse warned but I just ignored her.

"You listen, little girl. I'm-" Jace started

"I am not a little girl!" I snapped

"No?" he said sarcastically "What are you? like, 12?"

"I AM NOT 12!" I yelled at him. Maryse got up then

"Perhaps you should give us a minute," she suggested and Alec grabbed Jace by the arm and pulled him out. Maryse turned to me.

"Listen Clary, you're just going to have to work with them,"

"Why?!" I yelled "He's an ass!" I argued.

"This is important, Clary. We need you to do this,"

"And who is we?" I asked not lowering my voice in the slightest, "All of you guys in this Shadow Hunter business? You guys say that you're all going to do something to help every one else in this world, but you never do! People are dying out there and your hiring people to transport me somewhere, when they should be out there saving lives! This city of yours is falling apart! And. You. Aren't. Doing. Anything. About it!" I yelled at her. Maryse just sighed

"That's what I'm doing, Clary," She said "I know what you are. And you and I both know that this gift needs to be taken advantage of. Think about it, the doctors in the NIH in Maryland will more than likely be able to create a cure. A cure, Clary,"

I thought for a little bit. _Alec seemed like a respectable man. Maybe I'll be able to handle Jace if he's around. "Fine."_ I said "But if they think that their going to be able to boss me around the whole time like some child. They're in for a surprise,"

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><p>"No!" I argued "Why would we go that way when there is a perfectly safe and secure way to go that will take us in the direction that we need to go?!" We were looking down at a man-made trench, surrounded by about five armed men. It was night and now raining on them. It was a stupid idea to go that way, Clary, Jon, and Simon used to sneak out of the city all the time, searching for food and supplies that the city were running low on. It was a tunnel just below the bridge next to the black market. Clary knew the people well and could get them in without even any effort.<p>

"Because, there's no way the people on that side of the city are going to let us onto their territory enable to sneak out of the city," Alec said

"I'm telling you. I can get us in!" I said desperately. But he just shook his head. The two boys began to walk towards the trench, but I just sat down on the soil. Alec turned around.

"What are you doing?" he asked

"Watching you two idiots walk down to your death when you could just turn around and go the way I'm telling you to go," I replied.

"No. We already told you. Whatever you think you're going to do to convince the people down there to let us through, it isn't going to work. Trust me, I've tried before," Jace said. Then turned to start walking again. I sighed and followed them, my hand already around one of my daggers on my belt.

"You two are going to get me killed," I mumbled, following them down even though my mind was screaming at me to turn around and run.

They quietly crept through, in the trench, in the shadows where the guards couldn't see them from above. They managed to make it to the large wall at the end of the trench without being detected. They snuck through a tunnel at the end going through the thick wall, it was elevated, so Alec had to boost me up, then Jace, then Jace pulled Alec up behind them. They walked out of the end, Alec jumping first. He was ambushed by an armed guard, another guard ordered both Jace and me to jump down, our hands in the air. They obeyed, while I silently cursed the two of them for not listening to me and myself for following them.

The two men forced us on our knees, hands behind our hands, at gun point. One of them kept his gun pointed at the while the other grabbed something out of his pocket and grabbed it into Alec's neck. It was a small tube, about a half an inch in diameter and four inches long with a needle sticking out of the end of it. A screen at the end of the tube glowed bright green. The guard quickly wiped of the needle and did the same to Jace. The light glowing green again.

_This is really bad_ I thought in a panic. They were going to shoot me as soon as they stuck the needle in my neck. It was a detector of infection. The screen glowed green if they were free of the virus, and red if they were infected. I grabbed the knife on my belt just and stabbed it into the guards ankle, just as he stuck the needle in, causing it to just fall to the ground.

The guard cried out and grabbed his gun. Jace jumped up and quickly took care of the guard that had us all at gun point. I stood, ready to finish off the other guard, but he kicked me hard in the stomach, knocking me back. He aimed the barrel of his gun at my head. Still catching my breath, I just stared, wide-eyed at the gun. _He saw the light _I thought _He isn't going to hesitate. _I closed my eyes and turned my head, trying to block my head with my arms, as I heard the shot go off.

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><p><strong>Alright! Two chapters! Sorry it's late. I had to get this out before I went to bed. THANKS FOR READING as always! Please review, telling me how you like it and any suggestions you may have on how to make it more enjoyable for you to read. I will be updating tomorrow! B-)<strong>


	3. She's infected

I waited for the sharp sting that was sure to come when the bullet from the gun hit its mark, hopefully in my arm and not my head. But it never came, I would have thought that maybe I had died instantly already, but I still could hear and felt everything around me, the dirt beneath me, the yelling around me. It was all still there.

I opened my eyes to see that Alec had tackeled the guard to the ground and was struggling with the gun in the guards hand, each one of them trying to angle it at the others head. I walked over to them with my bow in my hand, loaded with an arrow already, and shot it straight threw the guards head starting in his eye. It took Alec a second to realize what had happened.

I heard a click and felt cold metal against my head. _Jace. _I thought _I bet he saw the light too. _

"What the f-" Alec started looking at Jace in confusion and disbelief.

"Maryse set us up," Jace interuppted, "I saw the light, it was red. She's infected, Alec."

"No! You have to listen to me. It's not what it looks like!" I said. Beginning to panic.

"Really? Then what is it like? Because to me it seems as though we've been tricked into traveling with a time bomb," Jace said from behind her.

"Look!" I said, lifting the hem of my shirt to show the huge bite mark on my side from when a was tackeled in the abandoned school 6 months ago. It didn't look very pleasant, but it was healed over in a scar. "This is 6 months old, I swear!"

"No way. You turn within 36 hours," Alec said, staring at the bite mark.

"I know. But I'm different. I was bitten 6 months ago. My friend and I thought that I was done for. We waited for a full 2 days. And nothing happened, so we waited 2 more days. Still nothing. Now it's been 6 months, and the bite is a scar now, see?" I desperatly tried to convince them before they shoot me.

Something sparked in Alec's eyes, but I couldn't tell what it was. Suddenly, there were cars driving towards us. Someone must have seen what happened and called for more guards. "Come on," Alec said, "We'll have to take care of this later,"

"Run," Jace said then sprinted off, with Alec and me following behind.

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><p><strong>I know it's short. I'm starting the next chapter right now. But I just wanted a gap between here and what happens next. THANKS FOR READING! As always, please review. I appreciate it! <strong>


	4. Feelings revealed

"This way," Alec said. We've been walking for 2 and a half days. Alec and Jace finally began to trust me considering I didn't turn into some undead monster and try to rip their faces off. They were walking down the side of the street. We reached a street sign telling us to turn onto the highway to get to Baltimore, Maryland. Alec seems like a really great guy. He cares for Jace. Even if the dumb ass is technically asking for it. He's a good guy, really. He reminds me of the person I used to be when Jon and Simon were still around; protective of those he cares about, but really fun when you get to know him.

He made camp in an abandoned store. We scavenged the supplies left over, which wasn't much, almost everything there was useless in its age, and many people have already searched through everything. We found a deck of cards and began to play while eating. "I'm turning in," Jace said, "Try not to be too loud," he left into the manager's office to go to sleep.

"What?" I asked Alec. He was looking at me strangely.

"Oh. Um. N-nothing," he stuttered and looked down.

"Are you sure?" I asked, "As something been bothering you? You've been spacing out a lot today,"

"Uh. It's just... I've been distracted lately," Alec said

"What is it? You can tell me anything. You know that right? I trust you. And you can trust me. With anything" I said. Which was true. I really was starting to open up to Alec.

"There's... There's just been something that I've been dying to do. But I'm too nervous to do it,"

_What? I watched him take on crazy amounts of infected without blinking an eye. And he's too nervous to do something?_ I thought

"**You? **You are too nervous to do something?" I asked in disbelief. Alec just nodded at the ground. "What is it?" I asked

"This," Alec said. Before I even knew what was happening, Alec's lips were against mine.

_Well that was unexpected _I thought. At first I was totally unable to move. That last time I kissed someone was... Simon... But he left.

Alec pulled back. He was wide-eyed, as if in disbelief at his own actions. "I- I'm sorry. I couldn't hel-," he began. But I cut him off but kissing him again.

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><p><strong>Alright. So there was a little ClaryAlec. Don't worry, Clace is coming up in the future. And I know. It's short again. But I will be updating soon. I need to work a little on my other story. THANKS FOR READING! I'm excited about all the follows and favorites I have been getting! Until next time, :D**


	5. The University

**Okay. So. Some people liked Clary and Alec. Others didn't. So they're going to go on for a little bit longer. But it won't be all about them. Clary and Jace don't necessarily get along right now. This story is about Clary's feels and emotions changing. So this story may rollercoaster a little bit. ****_Good Idea? Or no?_**

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><p>"Here it is," Jace said as we approached the large Medical University in Baltimore. "But what if they aren't here. I don't think 60 rations is worth all of this crap,"<p>

"Shut up, Jace," Alec said. We walked through the large doors of the University. We walked through a few hallways until reaching the head of the University.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Maryse sent me," was all I had to say. The man's eyes lit up.

"Oh. I see. Please, come with me," he said with a smile. We followed him through the University and came to a room with a large machine, that surprisingly still worked. "Lay down here," he said. I laid down on the bed next to the machine's entrance. The doctor took out an IV needle. "We've been waiting for you miss Clarissa," he said. Alec stepped forward.

"What is in that?" He asked. The head doctor turned to him. "It's a dye that will show any difference in her system compared to a normal body, the scan will hopefully show what makes you immune to the infection," He explained, then turned to me on the table, "Just relax. This will knock you out. Will you wake you once the scan is over. I nodded as the doctor stuck the IV in my arm. Within a few seconds, the world went black.

**Jace**

"She's been in there for hours," I complained. I just wanted to go back home. I was hungry, tired, and dying to see Aline again. I haven't seen her in a while and I miss her like crazy. Which made me extra grumpy. Now I was stuck in a room with my brother, a man I have never met before and a computer.

"The machine is scan every part of her. It takes a while," The doctor said. There was suddenly a scream and a loud boom, causing the ground to shake.

"Uh. What was that?" Alec asked, his eyes wide.

"I don't-" The doctor began. But was cut off has there was a loud bang and a bullet went through his head. There was a man in the door way. Holding the gun, now aiming at Alec, but before he could shoot, another doctor came out and tackled the man to the ground. Alec and I ran out into the hallway. It was full of people and bullets getting shot back and forth. My brother and I had to take cover.

"It's the bandits!" Someone yelled from somewhere in the corridor. There was another boom and the shots fired and people screamed.

"Run," Alec commanded and we both took are chance to dash down the hallway. There was yet another boom and the ceiling crashed down between my brother and I, nearly crushing me. "Jace!" I heard Alec yell from behind the debris.

"I'm okay!" I yelled back, "How are you doing?!"

"Just peachy, Jace!" He yelled back sarcastically

"I mean it!" I yelled

"I'm fine! I just grab Clary. Met me outside as soon a possible!" Then he was off running. I ran through the doors where we left Clary in the machine. I couldn't figure out how to stop the machine, so I reached in and pulled her out, ripping out the IV, causing a thin stream of her blood to stream down her forearm. I went to pick her up but paused when I saw her face. She always had this edge in her jaw from stress, but now she was completely relaxed. Her fiery hair was lazily tossed around her face. She looked peaceful. Beautiful.

_What's wrong with you?! _I asked myself. You've got Aline back home. And she has the body of an 11-year-old. I shook the previous thoughts out of my head, scooped her up and dashed out of the University.

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><p><strong>Okay. So. There you go. I hope you liked it. I will update as soon as I can. I won't be able to update as much as I have been during the week, you know, school and all. Please review. I have loved the ones I've received so far. And as always THANKS FOR READING!<strong>


	6. The Threshold of Hell

**Jace**

I ran out of the room, into the long hallway. Most of the battle seemed to have moved down-stairs. I could still hear the gunshots, and there were dead bodies everywhere, both bandits and doctors, but mostly doctors. There was screaming from down-stairs and a large round of shots fired. I ran out as fast as I could and waited for Alec anxiously. Finally, he came out of the doors, a trail of bullets following.

"There's infected!" He yelled out above all the loud noise of bullets and explosions, "They were attracted to all the noise!"

"We've gotta get out of here!" I yelled.

"But what about the doctors? We need them to make a vaccine. Maybe even a cure," Alec said, a hint of hopefulness in his voice. Just then there was a loud booming explosion and huge chunk of the first floor blew out. A few more explosions later, the most terrifying thing that I have ever seen happened; the building started to tip. Slowly, at first, leaning towards the ground, then grew in speed as gravity took over.

"RUN!" Alec yelled. Grabbing the still unconscious Clary, I dashed with Alec as far from the building as possible. There was an earth shattering crash that was enough to deafen me and the ground shook as if we were in middle an earthquake. I lost my balance and was flung forward. It took everything I had to twist so that I didn't crush Clary, while bringing my arm up to protect my head from the ground rushing up to meet me. Alec landed near me as we were covered in debris, luckily far enough that nothing serious hit us.

I think I must have passed out for a few seconds, because when I opened my eyes, Alec was leaning over me. I could see a large gash with a stream of blood coming his temple, his face was dirty with what looked like ash, and his clothes were torn, his shirt in shreds. I tried to move my arm from underneath my head bu it wouldn't budge. All that happened was, a sharp pain that traveled through my entire arm, causing me to cry out. Alec had taken Clary, who had been laying on my chest, fortunately still breathing. I grunted and forced myself to sit up, ignoring the stabbing pain in my left shoulder and arm. Alec was stilling up, curled up in a ball, cursing out every name under the sun.

"Hey dude? What's up?" I asked concerned, Alec was always calm, I don't that I have _ever_ seen him like this. He looked up at me with wide, teary eyes.

"They're dead. Aren't they? They aren't going to be able to make a cure," He spoke so quietly I could barely hear his words

"Probably. But. Hey. Are job was to get her here. So. We go back home, the girl can choose whether she wants to tag along, we get paid and everything-" I started

"NO!" Alec interrupted. Which honestly scared me a little "You don't get it! There is no going back for me, Jace!"

"Alec? What in the world are you talking about?" I asked terrified. Alec has always been my rock. The calm to my chaos. When _he_ begins to panic; things have really gone to the threshold of hell._  
><em>

"They caught me off guard, Jace," he said softly, "I couldn't take them on my own,"

"Couldn't take who on your own?" I asked nervously, not really wanting to know the answer. Alec grabbed the collar of his jacket and pulled it off to the side, revealing his left shoulder, which was torn at with a huge bite mark. I cursed out loud.

"This is bad," I said, "Really bad,"

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><p><strong>I know. I know. You are probably mad at me. But there's still a little bit of hope right? He's got 36 hours. Too risky of a move? Do you hate me right now? Sorry. <strong>

**It's shorter than I'd like but the next chapter will be out shortly, going back to Clary. Sorry for any typos and the bomb I just dropped... Please forgive me :/**


	7. Hope

**This has nothing to do with the story but I was thinking of actually putting something in the profile thing. So if you have any ideas about what I should put in there, anything you would like to know about me, just let me know via PM or reviews or whatever. OKAY, back to the story**

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><p><span><strong>Clary<strong>

There was a sharp pain in just about every part of my body. I slowly opened my eyes to see two familiar figures looming over me. I sat up and immediately was met with dizziness and pain. I looked around and found myself in a completely different place than the one I fell asleep in.

"Where am I?" I asked "What did the doctor say?" Both of the boys looked at each other, then back at me.

"Um. Well it's a long st-" Alec began but I interrupted him as soon as I noticed how terribly they both were hurt. Alec's face was bleeding and his shirt was torn into shreds underneath his jacket, and Jace's whole arm was laying limply to one side, swollen and purple. THey were both dirty and had cuts and bruises all over, and I probably didn't look much different. My ankle was swollen and I couldn't move i, my head was dizzy of hurt like crazy, probably bleeding from a cut somewhere.

"You guys are hurt!" I exclaimed and jumped up, just to shriek and fall back down due to my ankle that was most likely broken, if I was lucky, maybe it was just a bad sprain.

"Please be careful!" Alec practically begged. I reached for my back pack that I could see, not too far away from where I was sitting. I unzipped it and pulled out a case full with a large amount of medical supplies I saved up over the years of scavenging. I opened the case and examined the two boys once again.

"You two need to get cleaned up. Jace, how bad his your arm?" I asked

"It hurts like hell and I can't move it," He said

"Let me see," I said, genially grabbing it, knowing that Jace wouldn't be able to pull it away. I lifted it about an inch carefully to get a better look at it.

"Ah!" I cried out, "That fuc-" He started

"I'm sorry, Jace. But I need to look at it," I apologized, "If that hurt that badly; it is most likely dislocated. And it's possible you broke a bone down in you wrist and/or forearm,"

"_Great,_" he said sarcastically.

"While I do this, you should clean yourself up as much as you can," I suggested to Alec, looking over the gash on his head with dried blood sticking to his forehead below it. I turned back to Jace, "I need to see the rest of your arm," I stated looking at his sleeve covering over half of his arm.

"I can't lift my arm enough to take my shirt off,"

"Fine," I said then pulled a knife from my belt and carefully sliced away at the fabric of his sleeve, missing the skin, but salvaging as much cloth as possible for later use. His armed looked even worse under the shirt. It was most definitely dislocated. I sighed and met my eyes with Jace's. "You are _not_ going to like this,"_  
><em>

"It's dislocated, isn't it?" he asked, I nodded. It was his turn to sigh. "Just pop it back in and get this over with. I need my arm back," I got up and grab his arm, kneeling with my bad ankle not supporting any weight, just laying on the ground. He whimpered at the movement but didn't complain.

"Lean against me," I commanded and he did as he was told. I double checked to see if the angle was right and got ready to push it back into place.

"Wait!" Jace said "Count to three first,"

"One," I said and without saying two or three I rammed the bone back in its socket. Jace cried out and swore at me

"I TOLD YOU TO COUNT TO THREE!" He yelled. I shrugged and said,

"I would have been to tense in anticipation. But you were as calm as you could be at one, because you knew you had to more seconds," I explained. I murmured out a few more cursing and got up to go lay down, resting his head on his backpack like a pillow on the other side of the room.

"Pouty much?" I asked no one in particular under my breath, then turned to Alec again. He was dabbing at his cuts on his torso, face already cleaned with the sponge and bottle of water with a dab of alcohol in it I gave him. "You know? That might be easier if you took you shirt off?" I said as he avoided the pieces of cloth while cleaning his wounds, not even wincing in the sightest at the stinging kiss the alcohol gave to the cuts.

"Don't worry about me. Okay?" He said making eye-contact with me, then bring the sponge up to my face, cleaning it gently after ringing it out and pouring more water/alcohol solution on it. "How's your ankle?" he asked looking down at the swollen joint.

"I think that it's okay. I'm just hoping that it's just sprained and not broken," Alec nodded then looked back up at me again.

"You're so beautiful, you know that, right?" He said quietly, probably trying not to wake Jace up. I smiled up at him at he leaned down to plant a soft kiss on my lips before saying, "We should really go to sleep," We both fell asleep at the time.

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><p>I woke up early that morning, Alec and Jace were still asleep. I sat up and examined my ankle, the swelling had gone down over night and I could move it a little now. Which meant it was probably only sprained. I looked down at Alec's sleeping form and noticed some blood poking out of his jacket collar. I moved it slightly, just to uncover more blood, <em>How did he miss this? <em>I thought. And grabbed the sponge, carefully dabbing the wound, trying hard not to wake him fro his peaceful slumber. Once I cleared it enough to see the wound I screamed. A blood curling scream.

Alec's eyes shot open and looked straight at me, eyes wide. "You're bit!" I yelled, almost accusingly, "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"I-I," Alec stuttered "I was scared to," I said sadly. I began to cry a little when I got an idea.

"Wait!" I said, "I immune. Maybe my blood will heal you. It's worth a shot," I said and reached for a n alcohol pad and sanitized one of my daggers and sliced my wrist, just enough to get a decent flow of blood, but not deep enough to do any damage.

"Clary, you don't have to do this," Alec said, but I ignored him and filled a long, powerful needle with my blood.

"What blood type do you have?" I asked

"B positive" _  
><em>

_Good, _I thought, _Same as me. _Then without hesitation, brought the needle into Alec's chest, inserting me blood into his blood stream. Praying that this will work.

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><p><strong>Finally, I decent sized chapter.<strong>

**Okay. So. My original plans were actually to kill off Alec to leave more space of some Clace (Haha I rhymed). But I don't know if I want to. Please please let me know what you think I should do so that I can avoid pissing everyone off. THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING :D**


	8. Cute? Whats Wrong With Me?

**Okay. So. Everyone sounded like they wanted Clace. So... I just that means, I should hurry up with that. I assure all of you. That Clace is showing up eventually. I just ****really**** don't want to rush this. So. Yeah. Here we go**

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><p><span><strong>Jace<strong>

It's been a full day since Clary injected her blood in my brother in an attempt to save him. I hope it works, but I'm not expecting it to. Now we have to spend all day on the edge, waiting for what happens next. Alec looks ill, but keeps saying that he feels fine. I don't believe him though. His skin his pale, and his eyes sunken in. It's seems to be tearing Clary apart. They think that they're being all secretive about their little "relationship" but I'm not stupid.

We all ate lunch in silence. Alec, barely touching his food. Clary looked sick as well. I doubt she got any sleep at all last night. But she doesn't have the right. Alec is my brother. It's already bad enough that she is practically stealing Alec away from me, but now this. I don't know why it bothers me so much.

_It isn't Clary your jealous of, _The little voice in the back of his head said. He has always hated that voice. It always comes up with the more ridiculous of things, _but it's always right, _It spoke again causing me to groan.

"What?" Clary asked. Her emerald eyes searching his face.

"Nothing," I said. She did the cute thing with eyebrows when she tried to raise one, but wasn't able to quite get there. _cute? _I asked myself _Did I seriously just think that? _something is seriously wrong with me.

We finished lunch and the two of them left to go to the river about a half a mile away, something about "enjoying nature" and "bringing back peaceful memories while making new ones" what ever that means. Leaving me with my thoughts.

Once again I had been met with that feeling of jealousy as the two of them left for the river together. But I had to question myself who I was jealous of, and of course, the voice in the back of my head told me that I wasn't jealous of Clary. But of Alec, for getting all of her attention. I had no idea why, but these are things that I person just can't prevent. It was extremely selfish of me, I know, considering that my brother could be dying. But I couldn't help but wish it was me, smiling at her by the river. _ Why? _I asked myself. _What is it about her that won't allow her to leave my mind for even a second? _

_Maybe, it's that fact that she is passionate about everything she does. Or the way her face lights up when she smiles of laughs, or maybe it's the way she looked when I found her in the University, so peaceful. Or possibly it's how she's so mysterious, starting out with a thick protective shell around her emotions, but slowly opens up over time. _

"I don't know anymore," I said out loud. Suddenly I remembered something. If Clary's blood didn't work the way we what it too. Alec will turn any minute. And now Clary is with him. Alone. I cursed out loud and took off for the river.

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><p><strong>I hope that will be enough for you guys who need some Clace. It's a little short for my liking. But I will update tomorrow. Hopefully. That is if you guys let me know how urgent your need for Clace is. THANKS FOR READING I know it's pretty late, but I can't sleep so. Yeah. I look forward to hearing about what you guys think! :D (sorry for typos)<strong>


	9. Alec?

**Okay. So. I don't really know what I should do, because no one was giving me an idea as to what they wanted, either Clace like. Right now. Or the way that I originally was going to do it. So I'm going to do a little mix of the two. I really hope you guys like it!**

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><p><strong><span>Clary<span>**

It's been three whole days since Alec was bitten, but he doesn't look so good. He's really pale, hasn't gotten any sleep lately, and can't keep any food down.

Jace and I were eating dinner while Alec just sat by the small fire I had made. Jace has been acting kind of strange himself, he just seems, distracted all the time. He's probably worried about Alec too. We both fear that the change was only delayed, because his condition is worsening by the hour.

We left Baltimore and begun to head west. Alec said that he had a sister who lives in what used to be Los Angeles. Supposedly, she's also part of the Shadow Hunter group and can gets us to one of the best medical centers that have lasted this long. The trouble was getting there. In order to get across the country, you need a car. No car= No Los Angeles with all the infected it's hard to get even across a single state. But they're not the main problem, it's the bandits.

Luckily, Jace has an old friend in Illinois who owes Jace a major favor, he's a retired Shadow Hunter, he trained Jace from the ages 10 (when he entered the group officially) and 16 (2 years ago). He is really good with mechanics and will probably give us a car, it is if he has a working car to give us. We've almost made our way out of Maryland.

Alec decided to go to bed early. So Jace and I were quietly talking

"Do you honestly think he's going to be okay?" I asked, looking at the now sleeping Alec.

"I don't know," he said, "It's possible it only delayed it."

"How long has it been?" Jace looked at his watch on his wrist,

"About 72 hours," he said. I was exhausted, the last time I slept more than a couple of hours was a few days, possibly a week ago if you don't count when I was drugged in Baltimore.

"I've got to go to bed," I said, then went to sleep, curled into a ball, laying on the floor. Sleep came quickly.

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><p><strong><span>Jace<span>**

I got up early the next morning and was soon bored out of my mind. So I decied to go out for a bit. But we had barricaded the door for safety while we were here. And moving it would be noisy. So I opened the window and climbed out, not wanting to wake any one up. Without thinking, I shut it behind me, than realized, too late, that it locks automatically._ Great,_ I thought, _I'll just knock on the door when I get back. They should be awake by then. _

I came back about an hour later. I knocked on the door, but there was no answer. I sighed and knocked again, louder this time. Still no answer. I was going to start pounding on the door when there was an unhuman-like cry. So after there was a scream and crash. "JACE!" I heard someone scream out.

"Clary?" There was more screaming some of fear. But somewhere of pure pain. I was shouldering the door open, or at least, trying to.

"JACE!" I heard her call again. After a few kicks to the door, I finally opened it enough to squeeze myself inside, where I saw the most unusual and terrifying thing. I have _ever_ seen.

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><p><strong><span>Clary<span>**

I woke up shortly after falling asleep. But this time it was because of a noise I heard. I looked around and noticed that Jace was no longer there. He mostly likely woke up earlier and went out. It was normal for him to leave if the two of them weren't awake yet. I heard the same noise that woke me up and she turned to see that it was coming from Alec, it was a cross between a growling sound and I wince.

"Alec?" I said, leaning closer to him, to see if he was awake or not. Suddenly his eyes snapped open, an electric blue color, as he started to shake violently. His yelling didn't even sound human. It sounded like the growling of a wolf as it tore somethings limbs from its body. I scrambled back quickly, desperate for the space separating them. He sat up and stared at her, deathly calm, his skin was ghostly pale and his eyes were sunken in, and their color changed from a brilliant, shining blue, to a dull, dead shade of blue. I couldn't help but begin to panic.

"A-Alec?" I stuttered, then screamed as he lunged for me, snarling.

"JACE!" I screamed, even though I knew he was no where within ear shot. I didn't even me to say the name, but it slipped out with the next scream as if begging for help. Alec -or what used to be Alec- clawed at my face while desperately snapping suddenly pointed and more powerful teeth.

He managed to sink his fang-like teeth into my arm that I was using to try to block him, causing my to scream out in horrible pain. I could hear banging on the barricaded door and screamed out again, "JACE!" This time on purpose. The undead Alec paused slightly and looked down at her, stilling snarling. Sometimes, a confused "new-born" will hesitate before killing their first victim. I tried to shove him off, but he was way too strong.

There was more banging on the door and the table blocking it, slowly began to inch away from the door. But before the door burst open, undead Alec bend down and sunk his teeth in my neck, I screamed myself hoarse from the pain. What was unusual was what he did next. I knew that he was going to now rip a large chunk of her flesh out of her neck. But he did something else entirely. He actually began to violently suck at the intense wound, as if he needed my blood to survive. This was unheard of.

If I thought that the pain of the bite was bad, this was worse than anything hell itself could give. Usually, when bit, the bite mark stings, and over the course of 36 hours, the sting slowly travels from the wound to your heart. It's the infection spreading through your veins, once it reaches your heart you turn into the same monster who gave you the infection. It was a slow, unpleasant journey into death. But right now, it was like what would happen in those 36 hours all happening in a few seconds, the infection burning like acid in my veins, traveling to my heart. Maybe this was too much, Maybe even my immunity won't be able to fight this off this fast.

But just as the burning neared my heart. My slowing heart beat sped up, and flushed the burning out of my system just as fast as it had entered it. As soon of the pain rushed out, into the original wound, undead Alec screeched and backed off. The same process happened as when he first turned about 5 minutes ago, with the horrible screamed and growling. The world spun and turn to black.

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><p><span><strong>Jace<strong>

I couldn't believe what I was witnessing. After everything, Alec was laying, passed out of the floor, he looked normal -well, human- except for Clary's blood on his face and shirt. And Clary was bleeding like crazy out of the wound on her neck. I quickly patched it up the way a was tought to in Shadow Hunter training. It was a sloppy patch job, but hopefully it was enough to save her life.

I looked at the two unconscious people before me. One, was my half-brother who was undeniably human again, but the fact whether he was going to ever wake up again was debatable. And the other was Clary, who had cured my brother, hopefully without dying in the process. I looked at the two of them again and realized that there was one thing in common with them, other than that they both might never wake up again. And that was that I loved them both. I had to admit it now. I loved Clary. God know why.

And now I wait. Best case scenario, they both see the light of day again. Worst case scenario, neither of them did. And in my experience, the worst case scenario was always the one that ended up beginning a reality. I just prayed that my luck would start to change.

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><p><strong>I hope you guys like it! I really need you guys to tell me what you think about the choices I'm making so that I can avoid pissing you all off. THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING! Please, Please review. I will update soon! :D<strong>


	10. How dare you?

**All right. You guys ****really**** want Clace. And it's coming shortly. I promise. I update about 1000 words a day. And Clace will really show up in the next two or three chapters. That means this weekend at the absolute latest. I'm trying hard to please you all. But it's hard because I would hate to rush it.**

**Just to clear things up for those who need it; Jace obviously loves Clary (I hope I've made that clear) but Clary is just a little (a lot) confused right now. Jace has to break down her emotional barriers in order for her to actually fall in love. And in case it wasn't clear, the fact that she yelled out for Jace, even though she didn't think he was even there, was meant to show the first stages of trust, which is a huge part when it comes to falling in love with someone. I hope this makes sense. Remember. This story is _about_ Clace, but it needs the build up in their relationship. I really can't rush this or it will end up coming out all wrong.**

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><p><span><strong>Clary<strong>

We walked silently down the side of the highway. It's been a week and a half since we left Maryland. We've been walking non-stop which is exhausting, and we ran out of food and water the day before. We had ran into trouble recently, some bandits who jumped us. We made it out alive but I was hurt pretty badly, my arm was deeply cut, My leg was nearly shreded from when the bandits had thrown a grenade, cossing shrapnel to fly everywhere. My worst injury was my side though, one of the bandits had managed to slam his dagger into the left side of my waist, nearly killing me, I had just barely had enough medical supplies left to patch myself up enough to keep my alive. It wasn't enough for long though and walking was something I could barely handle. And as if it couldn't get any worse, according to Jace, we had another few days of non-stop walking ahead of us in order to get to Illinois to his friend, Hodge, I think Jace said his name is.

"We should go into town. Look for food don't you think?" I asked. Jace shook his head.

"I'm sure that there isn't anything left,"

"But I mean, compared to the other places we could go. Plymouth, Indiana is the least populated, and besides, who else would think to come here for food. This is our best bet. Because we need food. Right now. It's worth a shot," I argued. Jace sighed and turned to her.

_"Fine" _he said, and began to walk down the exit to Plymouth, mumbling something about going out of our way. We eventually made it to the heart of Plymouth and began searching through all of the buildings, starting with a small convenince store. There was almost nothing in the entire place. It was wiped clean. I sighed "I told you there'd be nothing left," Jace grumbled.

"This is one building in this entire town, Jace. There are hundreds of other places. Maybe even thousands," I said. We left the store and hit some Wal-Marts and Smith's. All were almost wiped clean aswell, and I was starting to lose hope. I could barely continue walking, I was _so _hungry. We were walking out when I was hit with a wave of nausa. Causing me to practically fall over. I leaned heavily against the wall next to the exit and slumped down it.

"You okay?" I just nodded. But the movement of moving my head in this way caused me to double over. But I didn't have any food in my stomach to let out, leaving me with a fit of coughs and hacks. "We need to keep moving. Are you going to be able to make it?"

"I don't know?" I answered honestly.

"What is it?" There were multiple answers to that question. I haven't been quite right since I woke up after what happened with Alec. I didn't even understand it, He acted so weird, no infected has _ever _actually _sucked _anyones blood before, like some vampire. And then the way it reacted, like the action caused the virus to sore through my veins, 3600% faster than normal, and _then_ the way it flushed right back out of my system as it got close to my heart. I knew that if it had reached, I would have turned instantly, but I didn't. But then again, I haven't been _quite right_ since Jonathan died and Simon left, to join those animals, the same people we had been running from. _  
><em>

Thinking of all this just made my heart race dangerously and my head to get dizzy. I was pulled to my feet and half dragged out and down the side of the street. We kept on walking and eventually reached a Cosco.

"This is the last try. After this, we leave this town, and get back on track," I nodded in agreement and silently prayed that there would be food. I needed it. I gave my last few meals up, knowing that I didn't need it as much as him, meaning I hadn't eaten in a few days, and I only ate one meal that last day.

We approached the door and noticed that it was locked, for the inside. Jace raised an eyebrow at me and I just shrugged, drawing out my bow and an arrow. Jace pulled out a pistol and held it infront of him, ready to fire, as he kicked the door open. It made a loud noise, making me cringe, if anyone was here, they definitly heard that and whould be coming at them. Most of the shelves were still full of everything, from food and supplies to weapons and gear parts. We made the trip fast. stuffing our bags and leaving as soon as possible. I quickly stuffed my face with what ever food I could without even looking to see what it was first. I almost tried to eat an unarmed mouse trap. As soon as I filled my stomach and bag, enough to feed me a meal a day, for about a week, maybe less. I felt quity about taking food from people who claimed it themselves, but they had enough to feed an army, and I was literally starving.

I reached for a box of medical supplies in the pharmacy. I had nearly ran out when I was patching the two boys up after what happened at the University, I needed it to patch myself up, because I knew that I was going to die from either blood loss/poisining if I didn't properly care to my injuries from the bandit ambush from before. But before I could grab it, I was snatched up by the collar of my jacket, and pulled backwards, then thrown against the wall. I looked up to see a tall man, about 20 years old, he had dark skin, and was dressed quite strangley, his clothes were squinced and had what looked like glitter. His dark hair held so many colorful sparkles that you could barely see the black color beneath it. And his eyes were a greenish gold. His apperence would be commical if it wasn't for the medival sword in his hand which was sung up, looking to discapate me. I ducked at the last second, the sword clanging against the wall that was behind her head a moment ago. All hummor had left the situation as the man held her up, back striaght against the wall, this time he held the sword parrallel to the ground and pushed against her throat, slowly pushing deeper. I held my hands up to push the blade away, but the only place to push was against the edge of the blade to push into the flesh on the palm of my hand other than my throat which had a light stream of blood coming out of the slit, but it was only the depth of a deep paper cut, I pushed it away in time. But he was much stronger then me and I had to push with all of my strength against the blade, leaving no option to grab a blade from my belt. Soon there was a steady stream flowing from the deep cuts in my palms, running down my forearm.

"Magnus, stop!" Someone said but I couldn't look away from the man trying to kill me. But I didn't have to.

_It can't be_ a part of me said. But I knew that it was. I would recongize that voice anywhere. But the man -Magnus- paid no attention to him.

"Magnus. Listen to Monkey Boy. It's not worth it," an unfamilar voice said. But again, Magnus ignored him, an obvious blood-lust in his eyes. "Magnus!" The voice barked and there was suddenly a man next to him, grabbing his arm and pulling it back, I limpily fell to the ground. I hadn't even noticed until then, but my stitches had split open and I was bleeding from the wound on my side. "She's not a bandit, Magnus. They would have killed her alreaday, with wounds like that, you know that. They only toterate the best of the best, young, healthy, and survivally independent," Magnus was shoved aside and that's when I saw him. He looked down at me with sorrow in his coffee colored eyes. I couldn't even look at him. I was so hurt. How dare he look down at me like that.

"Hey! What's going on?" Jace asked as he walked up, pistol in his hands.

"It's fine, Jace" I said and stood up, "They won't hurt us,"

"Really? Becuase, your bleeding hands and waist say otherwise," Alec spoke up for the first time in days. Ever since he woke up from the dead. I don't blame him. It must have been pretty trumatizing. It seemed that he didn't remember what had happened at first. But the memories had come back soon after he opened his eyes again, it was obvious in the way his eyes and posture at tensed as he had stared off into space. I had been giving him my food for the past couple of days. He looked like he needed it more than I did, but that came back to bite me. I noticed Simon kneal beside me, but I pretended that I didn't. His gaze burned the side of my face that was turned away from him, silently begging me to look back at him, but I refused to give in.

"Clary? Ple-" he didn't even finish his sentence before I snapped at him, eyes wide.

"HOW DARE YOU?!" I screamed in his face. This took him aback slightly. He swolled neverously and said,

"Clary, listen please, let me explain," He begged.

"Explain what?" I sneared coldly, which I knew was worse then yelling, "Why you left me, when I needed you the most, after you told me you loved me?" Him leaving broke my heart into tiny pieces and he knew it.

"I-I'm sorry," He croaked out pathedically.

"NO!" I yelled "You don't get to be sorry! Not after what you did to me and you know it!" I could see in his eyes that I was hurting him, but I didn't even care. I deserved it. He deserved worse than this. He was at an obvious loss for words and I began to walk away. But he grabbed my arm and pulled me back, forcefully, but obviously trying not to hurt me anymore. He was strong then I remembered.

"I didn't have a choice,"

"That's bullcrap and you know it," I accused.

"So I take it the two of you have met," Jace said scarcastically.

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><p><strong>[(Spoiler, sort of)Simon as entered for some soon Sizzy as well.]This is the longest chapter so far. I hope you guys like it. I am trying to get this out there so that you can read some Clace as soon as possible. I know you are dying to read it. So I'm working extra hard to get it out to you. My promise stands, this weekend at the latest. (I hope). THANKS FOR READING! DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW! 3 :D<strong>


	11. Fighting a Bear, to Lose to a Fish

**I'm sorry about last chapter, I totally spaced it and didn't proof read it or even use the spell checker. Oops. And I usually write in third person, so I often forget to write I or me instead of she or her. I will do better this time.**

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><p><span><em><strong>Clary<strong>_

I don't remember what happened after I walked away from Simon. As soon as I was out of sight, I fell to the floor and passed out from all of the blood loss on top of the stress. I woke up again in an unfamiliar room. It was big with multiple bunk beds in it. I was laying on the bottom bunk of on the right side of the room. My wounds were wrapped up, But they needed to be cleaned and stitched. My hands were wrapped up so much that couldn't even see them except for my fingers. I looked around and saw that I was alone. My back pack was on the ground next to a pile of medical supplies. I could hear talking but it was distant, like an echo throughout building, the source of the conversation could be on the other side of the building for all I knew.

I reached down and grabbed my bag and pulled onto the bed beside where I sat sitting. My bow and arrow that was knocked from my hand when Magnus attacked me was returned to its proper spot. I picked up the medical supplies and patched up my hands which stitches before re-wrapping them. I struggled with my right hand, but I managed to get the job done. Next was my side, and then my leg. When I stood up and slung my backpack over my shoulders, I had a hard time standing, my leg could barely hold me up. I walked to the door, not allowing myself to limp at all.

I followed the voices through the building and eventually found a large storage area. Behind a door was a large room that had been reconstructed into what I believed to be a dinning room, where everyone was now sitting, talking, they didn't even notice I was there. So I just listened.

Everyone was laughing about something that was said before I got there. "You mean-" Jace gasped out between fits of laughter, "She was actually dumb enough to fight off a bear? For I bunch of berries? Th-then ended up losing them... TO A FISH!?" He asked.

Simon must have told them about the time when we were hiding out in the woods next to a lake, back when Jonathan was still around, and I found a berry bush, it had the best berries ever grown, on them. They're extremely rare and I only ever find them by another rare plant called the Midnight Flower, that only blooms for a couple of minutes at midnight. I called them dazzle berries, they come in bunches of six and are a deep violet color, but when light hits them, they twinkle like lights, and yes, I was willing two fight a bear to get them, they taste _that_ good. And I got them. I was eating them right on the side of a rock a used to sit on to look over the lake. When I fish jumped up and snatched the berries right out of my hand. And to be honest, I cried a little bit.

"_Haha," _I said sarcastically "_Very funny," _Everyone turned their head to look at me standing in the doorway.

"Good. You're up," One of the people from Simon's "_group" _said. He was the one that pushed Magnus off of me the other day. He had black hair, he looked to be Jace's age. Next to him was a girl with dark hair, skin and eyes, based on the way the boy's arm was around her, I would guess that they were together. They invited me two sit, but the only open chair was next to Simon, so I remained standing. They introduced themselves around the table. I already knew Mangus and Simon's names. I learned that the couple I noticed before names were Jordan and Maia. The last person to give a name was Luke, a man with back hair, striped with a little grey. He seemed like a nice guy. I couldn't help but notice Alec and Mangus using a silent communication across the table. Magnus excused himself from the table, saying something about counting something in a storage room somewhere in the store, he refered to it as Block C, Section 3. -some code they must use-. Only a minute later, Alec excused himself as well saying that he was going off to bed, going in the same direction, even though, going that way met taking a detour through the building to get to the room with the bunks. But I doubt that he was actually going to the bunk-room.

"Clary?" I turned my head to see that everyone was looking at me, no one had noticed Alec going the wrong way. I hadn't been paying attention, and based on the way everyone was looking at me expectantly, I was probably asked a question.

"Sorry, what did you say?" I asked confused causing people to snicker around the table. I then noticed that Jace's cheeks were burning a bright red. I have never even seen him be embarrassed about anything, because he always stands by what he believes is right, though, some people would just say that he's arrogant.

"You alright, Jace?" I asked a little amusement slipping into my voice.

"What. Uh- Yeah. Why?" He stuttered out. _Okay, that's just weird, _I thought _Jace doesn't stutter. It's one of his personal rules for himself. _

I looked back at where Alec had left "How long was I out?" I asked, it was sunset when I passed out, hopefully it was that same night.

"About 4 days," Jordan said causally.

"WHAT!?" I yelled, "Four days?!"

"Yeah," he said, still calm and causal and pushed a plate of food in front of her. "You're probably hungry." That's when I realized how hungry I really was. I silently ate while everyone else chatted. I kept my head down, knowing that if I looked up I would be met with two coffee brown eyes looking straight at me.

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><p>It had been almost a week since we got there, they offered to let us stay with them, become part of their group or whatever they call it. But I wasn't interested. I just wanted to get out of here. I was avoiding Simon as much as possible, even though it was obvious that he was desperate to talk to me. Jace was getting all antsy in his pantsy to get out of there. But Alec didn't seem to want to leave at all. He and Mangus where always talking to each other in private and were being really secretive about it. I barely even got to see him, he was never around, always off with Mangus. And to be honest, I was starting to feel jealousy creeping in. I always thought jealousy was a terrible emotion. But I couldn't help it. And it was driving me crazy! I needed to get out of there. Soon.<p>

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><p><strong>This is shorter than I'd like and not as good as it should be. But I need to put this down for a bit. I will pick it up shortly. Tomorrow will bring another chapter. I'm just a little tired, I need a minute to let some good ideas to come up, I can't force them. But I new chapter will definitely be out tomorrow nonetheless. By the way, I said that Clace would show up in the next chapter or the one after that. But it's looking to be either the one after <em>that <em>or after that one... if that makes any sense. **

_Coming up next chapter:_

_"No!" I said. "There is no way. That he is coming with us!"  
><em>

_"Oh come on, Clary! **Please!**" He begged. I sigh and grumbled,_

_"Fine" Even though I knew that I was going to reget it "But you own me. **big time!**"_

**Okay. That's it. But the chapter will be out soon.**


	12. This is going to be a long trip

_Aim. Fire. Aim. Fire. Over and over again. I shot and hit my target every time. Infected were falling each time I fired. There were only a few left. I aimed again, I didn't fire, because a got a clear picture of her face before I could. It was my mom. And even though I hesitated, she didn't._

I woke up and shot out of bed, then shivered slightly as the memory of the dream flooded back fully. "It's just a bad dream," I whispered to myself. I hate bad dreams, but I hate good dreams even more. Because when you wake up from a bad dream, you're relieved knowing that it wasn't real. But when you wake up from a good dream, you're left wishing that it was. The worst kind of dream is a bad _memory_ dream. Like when I dream of Jonathan's death, or the time when I saw Simon the first time after he left, those are the worst ones for me.

_I've got to get out of here. I'm going to cure this world before some else I love dies, if it kills me._ I walked to the main room to grab some food. I took a tub of noodles that someone had left, already cooked, in the leftovers section. I heated up in a nearby microwave they had plugged in, grabbed a fork and walked off. I turned down an isle and saw something that made me drop the tub and fork on the floor. It was Alec and Mangus, they were -what Simon called- _"Sucking face" _

The sound of the tub and fork hitting the floor made the two men jump apart. I felt dizzy. So many thoughts and emotions were flying through my head, I could barely stay standing. We all stood there frozen in place. No body dared to make a move or speak a word.

"No one ever speaks of this to anyone?" Mangus suggested. I nodded in agreement and took off.

* * *

><p>"No. You guys can't leave. You can stay here, with us. Why would you want to go anywhere else? We've got everything. We're living like kings," Maia said. She and I had become friends over the past week or so that we've been here. And I wanted to tell her why we really had to go. But I knew that she would either shoot me, or tell some else who would shoot me. Either way, I end up dead, so that's not going to work.<p>

"I know. But we really need to get to L.A.," I said.

"Why?" She asked. I noticed Simon giving me a weird look. Probably curious as well.

"We're meeting someone there. It's important," was all I said. A flash of realization and then concern went across Simon's face. Maia sighed then I hugged her good-bye. Jace and I finished going around hugging everyone. I looked at Alec and he was pale and obviously nervous.

"You okay?" I asked. He looked at me sadly.

"I need to tell you something. That I should have told you before now," his voice was quiet so that no one else could hear. "It's about Mangus." There was a sharp pang in my chest as I realized what he was about to say.

"You're gonna stay here with him. Aren't you?" I asked. He nodded.

"I just- he's-" Alec began to stutter out an explanation but I stopped him.

"It's okay, Alec. You don't need to give me an explanation. I understand," but even as I said the words I felt a strong pain in my heart, knowing that he was leaving me, just like Simon had.

"Are you sure?" He asked. I just hugged him.

"As long as your happy," I whispered in his ear. We pulled away from each other, and Alec gave me a half apologetic, half friendly smile and I smiled back saying good-bye to everyone else. Eventually I turned to Simon. We just stared awkwardly at each other until he suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me aside. Saying something about us needing to talk. Once we were out of ear shot from everyone else, he turned to face me.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked accusingly.

"What are you talking abo-"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," he snapped with so much fierceness that it scared me a little.

"I reall-"

"Yes you do! This whole thing about going to L.A. I know what you're doing. And it's the craziest and stupidest thing you have _ever_ done,"

"What? No it is not," I said, confused about why he would say something like that.

"You're going to get yourself killed, Clary. And I'm not going to sit back a let it happen," He nearly snarled at me. But instead of shrinking away, I just got right up in his face.

"And why do _you_ care," I spat the words out at him, "I have been in danger of being killed for a least a half a year, remember? You left me, alone! You left me to die!"

"_I told you. I DIDN'T HAVE A CHOICE!" _He growled loudly. There was a dead silence.

"Yes you did, Simon. You could have stayed. You were the one who was talking about how it must be to live the life of a bandit, how "_exciting it would be"_. Then the next day I wake up. Your gone. And you-" I couldn't even find it in me to finish the sentence.

"You know I was joking about that back then. I didn't actually want to become that. You know that," I didn't even know what to say. I just turned around.

"I'm leaving," but he grabbed my arm and forced me back.

"No. Not until we figure this out. Do you have _any idea_ how long I've looked for you?" I couldn't even look at him. I couldn't stand to think about what I saw before. What I saw him do. He became a monster. And I needed to get as far away as possible, as soon as possible.

"Look at me," He begged. When I didn't, he sighed and grabbed my chin, forcing me to. Before he could say anything, everyone showed up around them.

"Everything okay?" Jordan asked, looking at us. I pulled away.

"Of coarse," I said. Though it wouldn't have convinced me if I was them.

"Are you ready? We need to move, dawn's soon. We're running late," Jace said, looking at his watch.

"She's not going anywhere. Not without me," Simon said. Jace looked Simon over then said,

"No thanks. Come on, Clary. Let's go,"

"It wasn't a question," Simon said as I started to walk away from him, I sighed. Jace crossed his arms over his chest,

"Too bad. I said no,"

"_Listen, Jace,_" Simon said, "You aren't going to be able to protect both her and yourself all the time. Someone is going to die. And I will do what ever it takes, to make sure that it is not her," Jace thought for a moment before answering.

"Do realize, that by coming with us. You do nothing, absolutely nothing, unless you are told to, or it is for Clary's sake. And then if it is a matter between you or her dying. You _will,_ die for her," He said as if I wasn't standing right there.

"I wouldn't dream of doing anything else,"

"NO!" I said, "There is _no way_ that he is coming with us!"

"Oh, _come on, _Clary. It's for your own good,"

"No," I said again.

"_Please, Clary._ I have to make it up to you," Simon pleaded, but I ignored him, and shook my head. There wasn't anything under the sun that he could possibly do to make all of this better.

"Clary. He's right. I can't protect you all the time. And you know what it would mean if you died. So before you go off about how you don't need protecting. Remember that we need to take whatever precautions necessary," Jace said.

"_Fine,_" I grumbled even though I was already regretting it, "But you owe me, Jace. **Big time.**"

* * *

><p>We had left Plymouth right after saying are good-byes and thank yous to every one for everything they've done for us. I hugged Alec good-bye and played it off as if it didn't hurt me nearly as much as it did to say good-bye, knowing that he would probably forget about me after a while. And I could see that Jace was sad to see his best-friend and survival partner stay behind, but he didn't show it too much either. I couldn't help but wonder out long it was going to be until Alec would have to explain why he had a bite on his shoulder. That's going to be a stressful conversation for all of them.<p>

I refused to look in Simon's direction the whole time that we were walking down the highway. _Just a few more days of walking_. I kept reminding myself. _Then we'll have I car. Hopefully._

* * *

><p><strong>So I hope that you guys like it (as always) and now some Clace will show up soon. In the next few chapters or so. But I will be writing a lot this weekend, just like last week. So look forward to that.<strong>

**Someone said in the reviews that I posted the same chapter twice, but it doesn't show up on my screen, so... Does anyone else see it? I want to be able to fix it if I accidentally did.**

**THANKS FOR READING! Don't forget to review! Next chapter will tell you a bit about the whole back story about what happened with Simon and Clary.**


	13. Getting to Illinois, Leaving for LA

**_Clary_**

_"Please,"_ The woman pleaded. She couldn't have been older than 25. She was on the ground twisted at a weird angle from when she was pushed down. The man who was aiming a gun at her head had his back turned with a hoodie on, I couldn't see him. I was hiding behind a nearby, watching, I was looking for Simon. Ever since he disappeared over night over a month ago I have been searching all over. I just prayed that he wasn't taken by bandits like this woman was about to be, that's if they don't kill her first. She had long brown hair and was a good hunter, she had just shot down a couple of birds for herself and what looked like probably another person. She had a locket necklace around her neck, and there was probably a picture of the person she loves, the one she's going to go feed.

"Sorry hun," He man said. I froze at the voice. _No,_ I thought, _it can't be. He would never. _"I need to do this to survive," he said, then pulled the trigger. Two more man showed up.

"Welcome to the club," on said patting Simon on the should, who was still turned away from me. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe I just watched Simon kill an innocent girl. Simon, the guy who had to turn his head at the sight of the slight of blood when someone got so much as a cut, just shot a woman in the head. I was still in denial when the three of them left with the birds from the woman they killed. Once my mind fully took in the scene, I just screamed, all the emotion involuntarily pouring out.

I woke up screaming. Someone was shaking me. "Clary?" I heard a voice say "Are you okay. You were screaming," I realized that it was Jace would had woken me up. I sat up.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I assured him and stood up. We left Plymouth 2 days ago.

"Just one more day until we reach Hodge's place," he said. I just nodded. Not wanting to talk, knowing me voice would crack -it always does when I think about the times I've lost the people I love,-

"Have some breakfast," Simon said. He was sitting by a small fire he had made to cook the food. I stood up and walked over, grabbing a bit of food, not looking at him. "You okay?" He asked. I just nodded again. If I were to speak. I'd either start to cry or yell at him again. So I kept quiet while I ate.

After eating, we set off again. The sun hung high in the sky, telling me that it was about noon, or a little after, when we reached Bishop Hill Village. There was nothing here. It a really, really small town. I seriously doubt that even 200 people lived her before the outbreak. And it was really old fashioned. As we walked along the street of some neighborhood, people would look outside their windows and peek outside their doors. It made me uneasy and feel unwelcome. I followed Jace, who lead us to a large, beat up, building. The only way in was a garage-like door, covered almost the entire side of the building. There was a chain with a lock on it that was connected to a reel, used to pull the door open. But it would take at least two, really strong people to actually use it, even if it _wasn't_ locked to the ground. Jace turned to me,"You don't happen to know how to pick a lock, do you?" He asked.

"It so happens to be that I do," I said and walked up to the lock, binding the thick chain to the ground. I grabbed a pick out of my bag and started to work on the lock. Just as I heard the click, meaning that I had unlocked it. There was a click of a gun loading, a shot and a loud ringing as a bullet it the metal just to the side of my head, if I hadn't moved to put the pick back, the bullet would have gone through my head. I spun around to see a man about 10 feet away aiming the gun to my head again, loading it. I was swooped up and there was then two people in front of me, blocking my view of the man.

"HODGE!" Jace yelled. "WHAT THE HELL?!"

"Jace? Is that you?" I heard Hodge say. "I didn't even recognize you, son. You know better than to try breaking into my place." I pushed the two boys past, disgusted by the fact that I needed them to stand in front of me in the first place. Hodge walked over and shook Jace's hand, grabbing each others wrist instead of their hands. I've seen Shadow Hunters do this before, _Must be their way of greeting each other,_ I thought. "What are you doing here, with these two?" He asked Jace.

"We need to get to L.A. Getting here was hell already. If we're going to make it, we're going to need a car. And I was hoping you could help me out, considering that big favor you owe me for saving your life," Jace explained. Hodge thought for a moment looking between all three of us.

"Do you realize what it means to give you a car. They're almost all crashed into piles from everyone trying to get out during the outbreak. And the only ones still working have been taken,"

"Please, Hodge. It's really important that we get to L.A. soon." There was a long pause before Hodge spoke again.

"Come with me," he said and we all followed him into his "house" you might call it. It took Hodge pulling on the chain and Jace holding it up for us to get through in order to get in, making me wonder how Hodge was able to get in on his own. Hodge shook heads with Simon, then with me. He looked down at my hand and his eyes flared. He twisted my arm up and pulled my sleeve back, revealing the bite that Alec had given me when he attacked me. He must have seen a tiny part of it sticking out of my jacket sleeve. I panicked, but before I could say anything. There was a gun to my head. I screamed slightly as Hodge loaded it.

"Wait!" I said but I heard the gun shot, loud in my ear. With out even thinking about it, I knocked the gun out of his hand just as the shot fired as if on auto-pilot. The bullet soared passed my head and a drew my own gun for self-defense, aiming it at his head. Now both of us were holding pistols to each others head, looking them in the eye.

"Hodge. Put your gun down," Jace ordered sharply to his old instructor.

"She's infected, Jace. Down be an idiot. You know perfectly well what happens if you don't kill them in time," Hodge said. But he was smart enough not to fire his gun, because the second I was hit, my finger would involuntarily tighten, sending my bullet, killing him aswell. Jace came around to the two of them,

"She's not infected. Trust me, I tried to kill her myself when I found out. But she's clean Hodge. She was bitten the first time about 7 months ago in the spring. It was bound to happen eventually. That's why we need to get to L.A." Jace explained, but Hodge didn't move and neither did I. "God Dammit, Hodge! Put the gun down!" Jace yelled and snatched the gun from Hodge's hand. I lowered mine and put in away in its holster. There was a long silence. That Simon then broke.

"So. About that car,"

* * *

><p>We drove in silence. Hodge had given us a black F-150 and said good-bye to Jace, wishing his good luck. Jace was driving, and I was in the passenger seat, forcing Simon in the back. I ended up dozing off about a half an hour into the drive. Which was a bad idea. I had the same dream that I did the night before, causing me to scream as I woke up, resulting in Jace slamming on the brakes in a panic. Simon was in the middle seat that didn't have the seat belt across his chest and the top half of him flung forward, and he hit his forehead between the two seats in the front.<p>

"Ow!" He yelled. But we ignored him. Jace was looking at me with wide eyes from the driver's seat.

"What the hell was that all about?" He asked.

"Just a nightmare," I said, my voice just above a whisper, leaning into the seat I was in. Simon leaned forward until his head was right next to me.

"Clary?" He said, "You only do that when you dreaming about Jonathan,"

"I wasn't dreaming about Jon, Simon," I snapped.

"Then what _were_ you dreaming about?" I stayed quiet and just stared ahead. Jace sighed and started the car moving again.

"Clary? You always feel better after talking about it," It made me angry that he was picking. Pretending to know me the way he once did. But I changed.

"_I don't want to talk about it_," I growled, still not looking at him. He just sighed.

"Okay, so you're mad at me. I don't see why. I didn-" I couldn't take it anymore. I spun around in the chair.

"I'm mad at you, because you left me, to be with some bandit group! I looked for you for over a month! And when I found you, I watched you murder an innocent girl! You looked right at her, and shot her in the head! Then you just walked away from her dead body with the food that she got herself! You are you monster, Simon! So stop acting like you know everything there is to know about me! Because I'm not the same person you knew before! And now, after all this time of me having to fight for my life, ALONE, you decide that you're going to come back and protect me! NOW?! How about when I really needed you after my brother died, huh?! I _still_ am trying to let him go! And it would have been done with already if a had someone else helping me do it!" I screamed in his face angrily. Everything I've kept inside for what seems like forever just exploded out of my mouth. And it didn't help that I was in a foul mood already from being nearly killed by the same person twice within 10 minutes.

"That's not the whole story, Clary!" He yelled back. "You just need to stop and think for a minute if it could be something other than what it looks like! So now, you have to listen to **my** side of the story!" I was quiet, showing him that I was listening. He leaned forward and dropped his voice to a normal speaking volume. "I woke up early that day I disappeared. I went outside to grab some water from down by the lake to boil for breakfast, when I was _jumped_ by two bandits. They were going to kill me, but I had nothing to give them once I was dead. Next thing I know, I'm in some weird place with a bunch of bandits. They gave me a choice. I would have to prove myself, if I was good enough, I would become part of their group. If I wasn't, they would shot 's why I killed that woman. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. But I did it, because I knew that they wouldn't be able to kill you if I was there to keep them away," I was dead silent, not knowing what to say, "I eventually got out of there and joined up with the group you found me in. I've spent this whole time looking for you, but when I went back to where we used to be when I was taken, you weren't there." I just sat there. "So. Now that we've cleared that up. Can we move past this?" I just stared for a while, then nodded. The drive fell back into silence after that.

* * *

><p><strong>Alright. This is posted later than it should be, but I got a little distracted along the way (sorry for typos, I'm going to post this without re-reading it because it's a little later). I hope you like it. For those of you that are sitting at your computer, praying for some Clace to make an appearance, it will be out almost definitely in the next chapter or the one after. I promise. If it is any later, than something drastic happened in the story that I didn't originally plan on. But nonetheless it will be out very, very soon as in later today or tomorrow, as promised before. <strong>

**One last thing. I wrote this chapter listening to a new violinist that I wanted to give a shout out to. But before you stop reading this because you're thinking "_I don't like that kind of music"_ You should know that he plays on a violin, that is literally like an electric guitar. Check it out; his name is Robert Mendoza and he has done covers of:**

**Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus**

**All of Me by John Legend**

**Rude by Magic!**

**Rather Be by Clean Bandit**

**Hey Brother by Avicii**

**If I Lose Myself by One Republic**

**And my favorite; Dangerous by David Guetta **

**Go check it out. Don't forget to review and as always; THANKS FOR READING!**


	14. Washington?

**Clary**

It's been a day and a half since we left Illinois and we were finally driving down the road to Los Angeles. Jace and I had taken turns driving and we stopped multiple times to refill the gas tank with gallons of gasoline the were in the back along the way. But where the sign was that tells you that you've reached LA, there was a huge wall and a gate. This seemed to be the only entrance, the wall around the gate stretched on for miles, and was straight up, impossible to climb. There were two armed Shadow Hunters on either side of the gate on top of the wall, both of them had to press a bottom to open the gate. "Here goes nothing," Jace said as he stepped out of the car. Simon and I got out as well. The two guards immediately pointed their weapons at the first two people they saw, which happened to be Jace and me. Simon stepped in front of me but I pushed him away. I did not want to be made out as some little girl whose worst fear is a gun. Because quite frankly, I actually enjoy the rush of adrenaline it gives me. "We really need to get in there," Jace said pointing to the gate.

"This is restricted. You can't come in without being checked," The guard on the left said

"So check me," I said arms spread out. The other guard, the one pointing his gun towards me, shook his head.

"It's not that simple. You have to go through multiple steps and tests. Not to mention that you would be at the bottom of a long list of people who are trying to get in.

"He's got a sister in the city. We're going to find her," the guard scoffed,

"And you think that means anything? People have their entire family living in the city, and they still have to go through the system.

"My sister is Isabelle Lightwood," Jace said. The two guards went silent and looked at each other, one of them left somewhere behind the wall. The one left didn't move his gun from aiming at me. I just stared up at him, showing that it wasn't bugging me in the slightest that he could kill me we the twitch of his finger. I felt Jace right next to me, Simon still on my other side. Both of them stepped forward to block but I pushed them away with my hands on their chests, not breaking eye-contact with the guard.

The guard from before came back, and behind him was a tall girl with black hair falling down her mid-back. She was literally and female Alec with dark eyes. "Jace? I didn't expect to ever see you again. You said you were going to stay in New York after what happened to Max," Jace cringed that the name.

"There was a change in plans," He said. Isabelle motioned for the two guards to open the gate and seconds after the disappeared behind the wall where we couldn't see them, they were on top of the wall again and they opened up the gate. Isabelle was obviously pretty damn important.

* * *

><p>"I'm Isabelle. But you can call me Izzy," She introduced herself to Simon and me.<p>

"So. What brings you here?" She asked turning to Jace, who looked over at me.

"Well. Remember what mom told us when we were little. That one day, someone would have to eventually be ammune. And the day that happens, is the day a cure will be born," He said. Izzy's eyes opened wider,

"You mean-" She started, "She's... Immune to the infection?" Jace nodded. Izzy looked at me for a while before a huge smile broke across her face and she jumped up and down, clapping. "Can I see?" She asked me. It took me a minute to figure out that she meant my bite.

"I-I have three" I said shyly. I'm not usually shy, but when it comes to my immunity, I'm used to hiding it from everyone to keep me alive. She stepped forward and I rolled up my sleeve to show her, remembering that the last time someone saw it, I was nearly shot in the head. She took my forearm in her hand and examined the bite.

"How old is it?"

"Almost a month," I pushed my jacket collar to show the one I have on my shoulder and on my neck. "So is the one on my neck,"

"And this one?" Izzy asked. She seemed to be amazed by the whole thing

"About 7 months," I said. She looked at me and smiled again. Obviously excited.

"Come with me,"

* * *

><p>I had been taken to see so many people, mostly doctors. By the end of the day, I had been so many tests and scans that I lost count. I was then shut in a room with a bed and a window. It was my own room, the most alone I've been in a while. Even after Simon had gone, I was taken in my Maryse only a month or two. And I honestly hated the idea of being alone right now. Even though I wouldn't admit it to anyone else, I was scared. I was terrified. What it we came all this way for nothing? I felt guilty, I'm the reason Alec parted with Jace, and I could tell that it was tearing him apart. I wanted to apologize, but I just couldn't figure out how to say it. And being alone makes me think of Jonathan. I sat on the edge of the bed and thought about what Izzy had said. "<em>After what happened to Max"<em> And then he had cringed.

I pushed the thought out of my mind and laid down on the bed, hoping that sleep would come fast.

* * *

><p>I woke up early the next morning when there was a knock at my door, I looked outside my window and saw that it was still dark outside. On the other side of the door was a doctor who had done some tests on me the day before. I followed him down the stairs of the building we were in and outside into the cold air. We walked into the main medical building. He led me to a room with a lot of monitors, Jace, Simon, an Izzy were already there.<p>

"Finally. We've been waiting for you," Izzy said with a yawn. Simon was half asleep in his chair next to Izzy. But Jace was standing in front of the monitors. He was obviously deep in though, with one arm across his chest and the other resting on the other, cupping his cup with his hand. He turned towards the doctor and me when Izzy spoke. Looked at me then back at the screens.

"What is this?" He asked looking at one that showed what looked like a scan of a heart. My heart.

"Well," The doctor said stepping forward, "That's the reason I pulled you out of bed," He picked a picture up from the table and held it up next to the screen and with his pen, pointed to the picture he was holding, "This is a scan of a normal heart. And this is a scan of your heart," He pointed to the screen. "Right here, are the two main arteries. If you look right at the base of the two of them, next to the heart, there is a tiny notch, almost impossible to see. Luckily, I took an MRI scan aswell," He pressed a button and another picture showed up on the screen for them to see, pointing with his pen as he explained, "This is a slice of what the inside of those two arteries and well, I found something pretty strange. There seems to be a group of virus inhabited bacteria. But it like a mother. Instead of spreading like it normally would, It's sending red and white blood cells with the virus in them. There is another, what you may call a 'virus home base' by your lungs, along where the red cells receive oxygen and where they also deposit carbon dioxide. So I have reason to believe that it is possible that the cure is in your blood _and_ the oxygen in your blood,"

I took all of this in for a moment. "How did this happen? What makes me so special?" I asked.

"Well. It could be anything really. Where you were born, who your parents were, where you grew up, something in the air of a place you where in for most of your life, just luck, or a perfect combination of them all," The doctor explained.

"So how are you going to use it?" I asked

"Um... Here's where you have to make a decision, Clarissa," He said. I had the urge to interrupt him to tell him not to call me that. "We can do our best to remove it safely so we can use it but-"

"You will probably end up puting a hole in my Coronary Artery and I'll bleed out in seconds," I finished in a bitter tone. The doctor nodded and I sighed

"But there is another hospital in Washington with doctors specialized in this field of surgery," And I couldn't help but laugh. Not an amused laugh. A disbelieving laugh

"You have _got _to be kidding me," I said to myself. Then I turned back to the doctor. "What's the probability of me surviving the surgery here?" I asked

"There about an 8% chance of you going by unharmed. About 40% chance of you living. But not without some damage. I thought for a minute. I can't wait. Someone is going to get seriously hurt on the way to Washington. I don't have much of a choice. But before I could say anything, Jace spoke up.

"We aren't doing that. Where in Washington?"

* * *

><p><strong>I know that doesn't make much sense and would never happen, but just go with it. It's all I got<strong>

**I'm starting the next chapter right now. But I wanted a cut here. I hope you liked it. (Again sorry for typos) THANKS FOR READING! Don't forget to review!**


	15. Don't Leave Me, Jace

_Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. _

I was lying on my bed, looking up at the ceiling. We had all gone back to sleep after seeing the doctor, but I knew that there was no way that I was going to get any rest. I hated to admit it. And I never will to anyone but me. I was scared. I felt like a child. I mean, I had thought about it before, many times, but to actually hear it made it feel some much more real. _I am going to die_. A part of me always knew that I would, and I have always reassured myself that I would do it with pride and honor. But I never truly believed that I was going to die like that. I honestly believed I was going to die why before then, torn apart by either infected of bandits. I couldn't help but think about the surgery. _I'm not ready for this._ I thought to myself, and was immediately disappointed of myself. _I have been ready for this for more than half a year, so why I'm I so scared all of a sudden. _My disappointment turned to anger. I got up from my place of the bed and paced around the room a few times, breathing slowly. _What's wrong with you!? _I asked myself _Just grow up! This has to be done! Do it for Mom, for Dad. Do it for Jon! Don't be so selfish, Clary! _I could almost hear the voice speaking as if someone was whispering to me in my ear. I nearly screamed in frustration and slammed my fist into the closest object, filled with a sudden urge to feel pain. And it hit me hard. My whole hand went through the decaying plaster of the wall. The sting of the impact of the punch ran up my arm.

I just stood there in silence, not even removing my hand from inside the wall. I didn't know how long I stood there like that, but there was a sudden knock at the door, pulling me back to reality. I walked over to the door and opened it. Jace was on the other side, looking more than tired.

"Why aren't you sleeping?" I asked

"I could ask you the same question," He said. There was a moment of awkward silence.

"Wanna come in?' I asked, stepping aside to let him in. He nodded and stepped in and I closed the door behind him. I sat down next to him on the edge of the bed.

"How are you holdin' up?' I asked. I shrugged my shoulders as if it was no big deal

"I'm fine," I said, glad that my voice came out steady.

"Are you sure? Because I-" He started but cut off with widened eyes. I was about to ask him what was wrong but he grabbed my hand and held it up, "What is this? When did you do this, Clary?" I shrugged again

"It was an accident," I lied. Jace didn't look convinced.

"So... that Clary's fist sized hold in the wall over there had nothing to do with it?" He asked sarcastically.

"Nope," I said, popping the 'p'. But he just narrowed his eyes at me, making me slightly uncomfortable, "Okay... So it may have been a tiny part of it," I added at his expression on his face.

"Clary, What were you thinking!?" He asked

"I wasn't" He sighed and looked at my hand again.

"I'm sure it's broken," he said

"I know," Jace leaned over so that his face was in front of mine, which was facing forward.

"I know that this is bugging you. Talk to me about it," He said, and I just sighed

"I don't want to go to Washington. We'll be back tracking. And neither you or Simon should have to go. I'm having the surgery here before I can think about it anymore. Every second of everyday counts. This is something that has to happen, whether I live to see the effect it makes," I said. Which was true. I get had to buck up, suck up, and shut up, and get this over with.

"No. You're going to Washington if you have to be dragged there," He said. I immediately knew that something was wrong. He said _"If__ you have to be dragged there." _But the Jace thing to say is _"__If I have to drag you there." _

"You aren't coming," I thought out loud. Jace ran his fingers through his hair. I nervous habit I noticed him doing ever once in a while.

"Izzy asked me to stay," He said.

"I am not going to Washington. I won't make it," I argued.

"Yes you will. Izzy knows some guys who are willing to give there lives up for you to get there, not that it will be needed. These guys are the best of the best. _But I don't want anyone else to keep me safe but you! _I was close to yelling. But instead I said,

"Simon?"

"He's actually staying here too,"

"What?" I deadpanned.

"I don't know why. I'm guessing that Izzy asked him to stay too," I was suddenly angry, sad and scared all over again.

"I'm tired. I need sleep," I declared and fell into my pillow covering my face so that Jace couldn't see the facial expressions that I was sure I was making, signaling him to leave. He silently got up and left. I didn't sleep at all the rest of the night.

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><p><strong><span>Jace<span>**

The next morning, Clary was extremely quiet. She didn't say a word all day, and looked even more exhausted that she did when I saw her this morning. I felt really guilty about leaving her, like Alec did to me. But it really hit me, when the doctor was talking, that Clary might die. I had asked the doctor the percentage of likelihood that she would survive the surgery in Washington, after everyone had left to bed. It was still less than 50% and as terrible as it was, I couldn't bring it in me to bring her to Washington. Knowing that I was just taking her to the slaughter-house, and I respected and loved her way too much to do that to her.

She was saying goodbye to Simon. They hugged each other and stayed that way for a long time, whispering things in each other's ear, and there were a few brief tears shed between them. They pulled apart and it was obvious that she was avoiding eye-contact with me. She looked at the two men who were supposed to take her, then looked at me. Something flashed across her face, too fast for me to read, a mixture of sadness and something else, and she took off running. There was a moment of confusion before people started running after her. I was the first one to take off towards her. But she was fast and had a good head start.

"What is she doing?" Izzy asked

"She really doesn't want to go," Simon said. We ran through the streets, chasing the little redhead, but we soon lost her and decided to split off. Luckily I had an idea of where she went. She always went to higher ground when she was stressed and needed to be alone. And she would go somewhere no one would think to look, somewhere nearby. I went to the nearest, tallest building. It was an apartment complex, but it was abandoned, even in this city of people, and looked like it was about to crumble any minute. This was definitely where she would go. I ran through the doors and dashed up the stairs to the top floor. Even though I was exhausted, I kept running through the hall. _Which room would she go in? _I thought. She always had a thing for patterns, and we were on the 15th floor. I went down the hall, looking at the doors. But she also loved the number 26, who knows why. That leaves two doors. I opened the one labeled 1515. But it was empty. That leaves 1526. I went down and opened the door with that number. It was empty as well. _Maybe I was wrong_ I thought. But then I thought for a minute. _She would __want a view. Heights calm her for some reason. So she would go the corner room with the biggest window. _And sure enough. I opened the door to the corner room of the side of the building I was in, and Clary was sitting on the large window sill looking out.

"Go away," She said without even turning around to see who it was in the room. I ignored her command and walked over to her.

"What's wrong, Clary? Why did you run off?" I asked.

"Go away," She said again. But again, I ignored her. And when I didn't, she turned around and snapped at me, "I DON'T WANT TO GO, JACE!" I screamed

"Why not? I thought you would want to do this," I asked calmly.

"BECAUSE I'M SCARED! I'M TERRIFIED! I CAN'T DO THIS ALONE! NO MATTER HOW MUCH I WANT TO!" She screamed out, tears building in her eyes. This shocked me. Clary didn't get scared. And she isn't the person to share when she is. She could have a gun to her head or and knife to her throat, and not only would she not be afraid, but she would enjoy it. I could tell, She liked being close to death. So why is she scared now?

"What do you want me to do about it?" I asked and she didn't say anything for the longest time.

"I don't know," she said, sounding defeated. "I just need someone there to be with me. To insure me that this is what my fate is. What I was born to do. I need closure before I die. But no one is going to. Because I have lost so many people," She said. This made me snap, I have no idea why, but it did. It made me feel like I wasn't good enough. She hadn't lost me. All she had to do is ask, and I would do that for her, if I had known.

"What do you know about lost?!" I snapped in her face. This caught her attention. "I don't care what you think that you've lost. But you have lost nothing compared to me!" I shouted. Clary just stared for a moment as the words involuntarily came out of my mouth. You couldn't know what loss is until you've lost a child, and that was the solid truth. And I lost one, or at least that's how I see it. It was Max. When my parents died when I was ten, Alec's family took me in, I became part of their family. I grew up with Max looking up to me like the dad he had lost before he was even born. And he was like my son. I would teach him how to defend himself, he was my brother, my son, and my best friend at the same time. And I nearly died myself when he died. It hit me hurt, I couldn't handle it. So I moved to New York for a new start. An old friend of mine named Aline has helped me, but I still am torn into a million pieces. Alec was always there, but he left me for a man he barely met.

"I HAVE LOST EVERYONE! EVERYONE I'VE LOVED AS EITHER DIED OR LEFT ME! I WATCHED AS EVERYONE AROUND ME DIED! AND I FEEL LIKE IT'S MY FAULT! I SHOULD BE DEAD! I SHOULD HAVE DIED THE FIRST TIME I GOT BITTEN! EVEN SIMON HATES ME, HE DOESN'T SAY IT, BUT I CAN SEE IT! HE WILL NEVER FORGIVE ME AFTER OUT FIGHT! THE ONLY PERSON I LOVE WHO HASN'T LEFT ME IS YOU, JACE!" She said, then leaned back on the window as if she had exhausted herself by shouting. "Everyone has lost someone, Jace," she said weakly.

I thought for a minute _did she just say she loves me? _I asked myself. I was going to say something, but my arms and legs beat my mouth and I ended up closing the space between us and kissed her instead, showing her that I love her, and I couldn't help but smile against her lips when she kissed me back. She pulled away slightly to breathe in a shaky, sob-filled breath. I hugged her to me, realizing finally how scary this really was for her, and whispered in her ear,

"I'm not going to leave you. Never."

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><p><strong>Clace from now on you guys! Thanks for being patient. Sorry it wasn't out sooner and that it was worth it. THANKS FOR READING! I will update soon. Please review to let me know how I'm doing. (ps. I am too tired and lazy to re-read it, so I'm sorry for typos)<strong>


	16. I asked for my car, You gave me horses

**I'm sorry that it took me so long to update. With everything going on, it's been hard to keep up; Holiday season, finals coming up next week for my school, and of course you all know of the dreaded writers block. It hit me hard. But I'm back with more! Enjoy**!

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><p><span><strong>Simon<strong>

Clary ran off a little while ago and I've been with Izzy, searching all over the place for her. We lost Jace not long after running off after her. I felt guilty, I knew it was wrong to promise Izzy I'd stay here with her and Jace, she seemed to take a liking to all of us, and I'm sure she would have asked Clary to stay to if it wasn't for her needing to get to Washington. I was surprised when Jace decided to stay as well though. One of the major reasons I wanted to stay is because I realized that I couldn't save her from any danger. Hodge had almost killed her. And she took care of it herself, while I just watched, dumbstruck. I knew that Jace was going to protect her. I hated the idea of leaving her with him like that, but I hated the idea of leaving her with two strangers. I didn't give a crap who they were, the only people who can protect Clary are the people who know her. And it made me mad at Jace, he knew it just as much as I did. He had no right to leave her, no excuse.

"You okay?" Izzy asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Uh. Yeah. Why?" I asked.

"You growled," She stated it as if it was obvious.

"I did?" _oops._

"Yeah. You did." She said with a bit of amusement in her voice. Just then, Jace showed up with Clary by his side.

"There you are," Jace said

"There _you _are," I said, almost accusingly at Clary, who just avoided my eyes and ignored my words.

"So. I decided that I'm going to stay with Clary," he said to Izzy, glancing and Clary with a smile and grabbing her hand, she smiled up at him in return.

"What in the world happened between you two?" Izzy asked, speaking my thoughts, with a confused look on her face, raising an eyebrow.

"We just... Talked," Clary said. Izzy didn't look convinced, but dropped it anyway.

"Let's just get back to the base," she said

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><p><strong><span>Clary<span>**

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" I asked as I hugged Simon good-bye. He nodded.

"I'm sure. I can't leave Izzy. She needs the extra help, she lost a lot of men and women in a bandit attack not to long ago. If she doesn't get any more people, there won't be enough hunters to get food. I want to help out," He said. _Not to mention that I am totally falling heads over heels for Isabelle, _I added for him in my head. He made it obvious that he was, I'm not stupid.

"Ready?' Jace asked me. I nodded and we walked towards the car. Or at least, where Jace left the car. But it wasn't there any more. "Izzy? Where is my car?" he asked, turning to Izzy, who was standing there, looking embarrassed, but didn't say anything.

_"Izzy,"_ Jace said, a bit of suspicion slipping into his voice, _"What did you do to it?" _

"Uh... Well... I might have let a buddy of mine drive it and... It's currently smashed in a tree," She blushed a bit and Jace went dead silent.

"Do you have another car perhaps? Preferably something that runs," He asked just above a whisper.

"No cars," Izzy said regretful, "But we have horses," She added, a bit hopeful. Jace sighed.

"Fine,"

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><p><strong>I know. So short. And it's been so long since I last updated. I'm trying really hard. I've been working on another story of mine that isn't on this site (I wish it was but this is fanfiction, and the story I'm writing is 100% my own. So it doesn't belong on this site) and writers block has been eating me alive. New chapter coming out as soon as I can get it finished for you guys. The story should really start to fly in the next couple of chapters. <strong>


	17. The Morgensterns

**I am really sorry for the delay in updates. With semester finals, traveling for the holidays, writers block, and lack of motivation as excuses, I wasn't able to update any sooner. But to hopefully make up for some of it, this chapter is going to have some drama.**

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><p><em>Ca-Clump. Ca-Clump. Ca-Clump. Ca-Clump.<em>

We've been on our horses for a week and a half and we were finally leaving Nevada. The whole time, all there was dry nothingness and looking at nothing could be so boring. I wish we could have gone through more cities, but we decided to play it safe and go through more vast areas to avoid any people on the way. Jace and I haven't really even talked that much since we left, so they only sound I was able to listen to the whole time was the clicking of the horse's hooves on the ground as we went on our way. Suddenly we stopped, "What is it?" I asked Jace.

"I don't feel safe going this way into Oregon," he said and I sighed.

"You said that when I asked you why we could just go straight north form Los Angeles,"

"We're going around Oregon through Idaho," He stated after a long silence.

"Jace. That's going to take forever. Every second is another person infected and another persons loss. We don't have time for this. What is so intimidating about Oregon?" I asked possibly I bit too dramatically. Jace just turned on his horse and stared at me in disbelief for a minute before asking,

"You mean, you really don't know?" He asked

"Know what?" I asked loudly.

"About the Morgenstern group," Jace said as if it should ring a bell. It didn't. So a gave him a look to tell him that it didn't and to go on. "The most well-known, vicious group of bandits in the world," He deadpanned. "They run most of Oregon, most likely because it wasn't the easiest state to take over. Trust me. We don't want to go through there," I groaned.

"We need to get to Washington, Jace. _We __don't have the time,"_ I said.

"There's no choice. We'll go around the edge but stay in Idaho," I obviously wasn't going to win this argument, so I sighed and gave in,

"Fine,"

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><p><strong><span>Jace<span>**

The view was much prettier. Green grass and some rivers were beautiful, especially compared to anything you'd find in New York. I could only tried to image how pretty in must have been before the outbreak. How I wish I could have seen it.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts, I nearly jumped right off of my horse when there was a loud _Bang. _I sounded like a gun shot and then I heard Clary scream out and turned around just in time to see her horse being shot dead from underneath her. I went to jump of my horse to get to her but the got shot surprised and terrified it and it took off and full speed, leaving me no chance of jumping safely and unable to stop the frightened horse.

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><p><strong><span>Clary<span>**

I wasn't sure if I had blacked out for a minute. All I knew was that there had been a gun shot and my horse collapsed underneath me and I hit the ground hard. Now I was laying there, a group of five men stood over me and three of them had a gun pointed at me. Jace was nowhere to be seen.

_Did he take off and leave me here? _I thought. The five men looked at each other for a long while before coming to some sort of silent agreement and the two that weren't pointing a gun at me grabbed my by my arms and pulled me up. I snapped out of my shock and quickly wrenched my right arm from the non-expecting man and slammed my fist into the other mans jaw and took off running. I heard gun shots by my head and instinctively ducked my head, and kept running. Unfortunately I was outnumbered and it wan't to long before I felt a strong -almost painful- grip on my arm then around my waist. I found back as hard as I could before I felt something hard, most likely the end of the grip of a handgun, come down strong against my head before my vision was enveloped in darkness.

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><p><strong>Sorry again for the long wait and for such a short chapter but the next one will be out shortly. THANKS FOR READING. PLEASE REVIEW!<strong>


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